He was an uncontroversial figure who ran what was, by boxing's standards, an uncomplicated business. Dan Duva was the driving force behind his family's boxing promotional and management company, Main Events Inc. Victims of wicked publishing practices, Siegel and Shuster will always be remembered , particularly by comic fans, an ever-growing sector of the world's population.Jerome Siegel, cartoon writer: born Cleveland, Ohio 17 October 1914; married (one son, one daughter); died Los Angeles 30 January 1996.. This time they were lucky: the owners settled out of court giving them $20,000 a year for life, plus restoring their creators' credits to the strips Shuster, virtually blind, died in 1992. In addition their publisher gave them the sack.Siegel came back in 1948 with Funnyman, a humorous version of Superman, but it was no great shakes despite a supportive newspaper strip.

In 1963 Siegel and Shuster tried to regain their rights in Superman, but after 12 years in the courts their claim was dismissed.When the first Superman super-movie went into production in 1976, they tried once more, making their copyright claims public together with their monetary distress. They sued their publisher in 1947 and were eventually awarded $100,000 compensation. They had sold their first 13-page strip for $10 a page, a fee which included all rights. They also won a 10-year contract guaranteeing them $500 for each 13-page strip they produced, together with a tiny percentage of the early merchandising, but the last straw was Superboy, based on the life of Superman as a teenager This spin-off was not credited to them. In time, Superman would enter television, both live action and animated, and finally the higher echelons of cinema with four of the world's top money-making films.None of this did Siegel and Shuster much good. Within months similar super- heroes sprang into life in dozens of new titles by as many new publishers.

Siegel's newspaper strip was taken up by the McClure Syndicate, a radio serial was launched, Max Fleischer began perhaps the finest animated cartoon series ever, Columbia Pictures produced two film serials, there was a hardback novel, and many more comic books. I corrected the legend in my second edition.The history of the American comic book was changed for all time by the debut of Superman. I planned out the 13 pages and wrote any script changes I deemed necessary, while Joe created several new drawings, the brand new cover, and created the Superman logo."This logo has remained virtually unchanged since that first appearance. "Joe and I cut and pasted the strips, and Joe's brother Frank assisted too This was done at Cleveland at Joe's residence. Although history recorded that Mayer himself cut and pasted their daily strips into a 13- page feature, a story innocently repeated in my International Book of Comics (1985), Jerry Siegel wrote to tell me this was not so. The comic publisher did not care for it either, but his young editor Sheldon Mayer thought it great. Shuster promptly tore it up.With the arrival of a series of new comic books, the pair found more luck.